Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a CB emoryi that I have been feeding chicks and mice to.
She seems to really prefer the chicks. Is there any reason I shouldn't
feed her mainly chicks since that is what she perfers?

I feed my chicks catfood and laying mash (high in calcium) for
three days prior to feeding them to the snake.
Thanks
Nina

three weeks instead of mice or rats. Chicks seem to put the weight back on the females real well after the snake lays eggs. I also give my ratsnakes about three chick feedings prior to their last feeding before I put them down for the winter. Ratsnakes can live a good healthy life solely on rodents, yet they may have problems with chicks only after several years. I don't think it's only calcium dificiency. Baby chicks have a high yoke content which is good for putting mass on, but is high in cholesterol. My snakes also love the chicks. They know when 100 baby chicks arrive. I just don't feel you should feed them only chicks. The snakes might prefer them, but the very fact you need to gut load the chicks should give you an indication of feeding chicks only.

>>I have a CB emoryi that I have been feeding chicks and mice to.
>>She seems to really prefer the chicks. Is there any reason I shouldn't
>>feed her mainly chicks since that is what she perfers?
>>
>>I feed my chicks catfood and laying mash (high in calcium) for
>>three days prior to feeding them to the snake.
>>Thanks
>>Nina

Thanks for the advice. As far as gutloading the chicks, I do that to
my mice as well. Just wasn't sure the nutrients in a chick as compared
to a mouse.

How often do you feed your ratsnake? I have been feeding any time she
acts hungry and it seems she wants to eat weekly. When I first got
her she ate 6 mice in a period of four days. She has never regurged
and her stool is normal, no fowl odors either, even when fed chicks. She
is a captive bred and about 4 feet long.

Although I have worked with quite a few snakes, this is the first
one I have owned. I bought her at a herp show and got a trans pecos as well.

Thanks
Nina

Every snake gets a rodent meal on Monday. I do another feeding on Thursday, but only the ones with a certain mark on their enclosure gets a Thursday feeding. Everyone has their own schedule and sequence we feed. The main thing is to get it down to feeding them the same shedule each week. Frozen rodents that I'm using for feeding on Monday get taken out on Sunday night to thaw. I live in Bakersfield, CA where the day temperature the other day was 103 degrees. I would rather thaw the rodents at night when it's cool, then thaw them during the day temp until I get home from work. Our rodents Del and I order are delivered on Mondays. They are in my laundry room when I get home from work. They are alive since I don't want frozen ones thawing during the day. If I need to feed any snake from the ones delivered, I just thump it and hold it up in front of the snake and let him take it so I know he or she has it. The rest of the live are thumped and frozen. I don't keep alot of frozen and generally prefer to thump the live ones and feed them when I get home from work. Over half the snakes get a rodent meal on Thursday. Especially this time of year. Almost all the females and some males. I feel males can do well on once a week feedings right now until I start gearing them up for brumation. If I'm doing a chick feeding, chicks are delivered on Thusdays. Hatch days at the hatchery we order from is Wednesday and they ship on Wednesday. Del and I order 75 or 100 chicks. They are a day old when we get them. All are roosters. They cost us $.34 each. That's kind of the way I do the feedings. Like I said, everyone has their days that are convenient for them and can be worked on a certain schedule that is only deviated a little each year. I try not to gear feedings by when the snake starts moving around the enclosure, although that's one way it can be done. I have snakes that have different metabolisms and vary in activity. My spilotes have very high metabolisms. They can eat then deficate like the next morning and start roaming around. They can also eat 4 or 5 rats each in a few moments. They don't constrict. It's amazing to see them practically suck a rodent down and go after another one in a couple seconds. They can eat 4 rodents and be back up on their branches before any of my other snakes have downed one rodent. They get a Monday and Thursday feeding. BTW - when are you going to pick up a male emoryi to breed to your 4 foot female? You don't have to, I just always ask when someone has a 4 foot snake when they are getting it a mate. How do you like your trans pecos? I've been procrastinating getting some to work with. Just curious what you thought about them. Good luck.

>>Thanks for the advice. As far as gutloading the chicks, I do that to
>>my mice as well. Just wasn't sure the nutrients in a chick as compared
>>to a mouse.
>>
>>How often do you feed your ratsnake? I have been feeding any time she
>>acts hungry and it seems she wants to eat weekly. When I first got
>>her she ate 6 mice in a period of four days. She has never regurged
>>and her stool is normal, no fowl odors either, even when fed chicks. She
>>is a captive bred and about 4 feet long.
>>
>>Although I have worked with quite a few snakes, this is the first
>>one I have owned. I bought her at a herp show and got a trans pecos as well.
>>
>>
>>Thanks
>>Nina

Thanks for all the help.

As far as getting a male for my emoryi, well that IS in the plans <G>
I wanted a snake to work with and my husband and I really researched
on what we wanted, then had her delivered to a local herp show. I
will start looking for a male as soon as we have our herp rooms completed.
That seems like it is going to take forever! We have a large
farm house and I had four children. Two of their four bedrooms are what we are converting for
our herps. I am not being mean, three of them have grown and moved
out. ROFL

Now, on the trans pecos. It was a spur of the moment purchase, I know, I know
you aren't supposed to do it that way, but when I went to pick
up my emoryi I saw it and thought it was one of the most beautiful
snakes I had ever seen. It is a WC, small, about 18 inches or so...
very tame and nice. She is not eating like I would like. I have had
her for a month and she has only eaten one fuzzy and one hamster
pinkie. I offer food twice a week to her but to no avail. I am
in the process of doing some husbandry changes that might help. IF
I would have thought this out, I would have definately gotten a CB. My next
one will be.

Anyway....thanks for all your time and help.
Nina

slower eaters in general if compared to other ratsnakes and pituophis. The cape gophers that Del and I have are slower eaters in general. They aren't on a Thursday feeding. They get a meal on Mondays. If one doesn't eat on Monday, he/she doesn't get the next meal until the following Monday. I don't try and have it eat on Thursday. It will only frustrate you more if you try to pick a day that you think it should eat. You're right about trans pecos being beautiful snakes. I was over a friends house last Friday and picked up a few snakes from him. He showed me 5 w/c trans pecos adults he has. Three were the beige color and 2 were the silver. I have to get a pair or trio sometime to work with. One of the negative aspects with obtaining a snake from a pet store is they don't usually have any history on the snake you are purchasing. You have to start from scratch with regards to husbandy and care. They don't have feeding records, lineage, health records, etc. For example, where was the trans pecos that you got from the pet store collected at? If you planned to breed later, it would be best to have a mate from the same location. Wild caughts are nice from a stand point of having a bloodline unrelated to others. Offspring from those are called F1's. I picked up 1.3 intermontanas (Great Plains ratsnakes) E.g.emoryi that are wild caught from DeBeque County, Colorado at the friends house I visited on Friday. Good luck and don't hesitate to post any questions or updates on your snakes.

>>Thanks for all the help.
>>
>>As far as getting a male for my emoryi, well that IS in the plans <G>
>>I wanted a snake to work with and my husband and I really researched
>>on what we wanted, then had her delivered to a local herp show. I
>>will start looking for a male as soon as we have our herp rooms completed.
>>That seems like it is going to take forever! We have a large
>>farm house and I had four children. Two of their four bedrooms are what we are converting for
>>our herps. I am not being mean, three of them have grown and moved
>>out. ROFL
>>
>>Now, on the trans pecos. It was a spur of the moment purchase, I know, I know
>>you aren't supposed to do it that way, but when I went to pick
>>up my emoryi I saw it and thought it was one of the most beautiful
>>snakes I had ever seen. It is a WC, small, about 18 inches or so...
>>very tame and nice. She is not eating like I would like. I have had
>>her for a month and she has only eaten one fuzzy and one hamster
>>pinkie. I offer food twice a week to her but to no avail. I am
>>in the process of doing some husbandry changes that might help. IF
>>I would have thought this out, I would have definately gotten a CB. My next
>>one will be.
>>
>>Anyway....thanks for all your time and help.
>>Nina

I got my trans pecos from a dealer from Florida, I bought her
at a Herp Show we had here in July. I didn't even think to ask
about what region she was from. That is what I get for making a
spontanious purchase.

You have been alot of help and trust me, I'll be asking alot of questions
I am sure!

Thanks again

Nina

Birds and their eggs are a natural prey for almost all ratsnakes. My Asian ratsnakes...schrencki, dione, and bimaculata, love them too, but I don't often feed avian prey. I don't think it is as complete in nutrients as the rodent food. I don't like to add extra vitamins to their diet either.

Sometimes I'll give my snakes a bird egg, especially gravid females, because I think they get more calcium that way for their eggs. I could get lots of bird eggs in the wild and also babies, but I don't like robbing the nests, and also I'd worry about parasites in the baby birds.

It is pretty interesting seeing a ratsnake eat an egg, however. Sometimes it will even stimulate their appetite.

Fox snakes like birds and their eggs a lot. When I was a kid I used to hunt for Eastern fox snakes in marshes that were loaded with red-winged blackbird nests. I've seen them find a nest and clean out all the eggs in one sitting. They'll eat any birds not quick enough to get away too.

TC

>>three weeks instead of mice or rats. Chicks seem to put the weight back on the females real well after the snake lays eggs. I also give my ratsnakes about three chick feedings prior to their last feeding before I put them down for the winter. Ratsnakes can live a good healthy life solely on rodents, yet they may have problems with chicks only after several years. I don't think it's only calcium dificiency. Baby chicks have a high yoke content which is good for putting mass on, but is high in cholesterol. My snakes also love the chicks. They know when 100 baby chicks arrive. I just don't feel you should feed them only chicks. The snakes might prefer them, but the very fact you need to gut load the chicks should give you an indication of feeding chicks only.
>>
>>>>I have a CB emoryi that I have been feeding chicks and mice to.
>>>>She seems to really prefer the chicks. Is there any reason I shouldn't
>>>>feed her mainly chicks since that is what she perfers?
>>>>
>>>>I feed my chicks catfood and laying mash (high in calcium) for
>>>>three days prior to feeding them to the snake.
>>>>Thanks
>>>>Nina
>>
>>

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Just looking, clicking, curious, studying, laughing, having fun, meeting cool folks, sharing. Live your dream, relax, smile, don't worry so much, love life. See ya there...TC.